Polaroid has announced a follow-up to their mildly successful Kids Tablet 2. The upgraded tablet is featuring the same 7-inch form of its predecessor, but it’s picking up a slightly improved processor, 1 GB of RAM, and Android 4.2. On top of that,

Anyone who has spent any time on the Internet knows that YouTube’s comment system may best be described as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” as Obi-Wan would say. To combat that impression and clean the place up, YouTube has started to implemen

Let us discuss the main technical and design techniques which make Angry birds game a great success in the game history. A small company in finland become a world wide known name by designing a simple and very interactive game. If someone don't knew

An entertainment media company Rovio (http://www.rovio.com) released, a casual puzzle game Angry Birds for touchscreen smartphones that became a worldwide phenomenon from 2010 onwards. The Angry Birds games have enjoyed continuing worldwide chart suc

Consumption of red meat has long been linked to the development of certain types of cancer. Now scientists believe they’ve found the culprit behind red meat’s carcinogenic effects.
A new study reports that a sugar molecule found in the flesh of beef, lamb and pork could be triggering an immune response in humans that causes inflammation, which ultimately contributes to tumor growth. Long-term exposure to this sugar in mice caused a five-fold increase in their chances of developing cancer.
Not So Sweet Sugar
Humans are the only carnivores that face an increased risk of cancer as a result of eating...

A long time ago it took a decently powerful desktop computer to run a major RPG title like Knights of the Old Republic from the Star Wars universe. Fast forward a few years that computing power can now be found in devices that fit in the palm of your hand. To prove that point, Aspyr Media, Inc. has released the full Knights of the Old Republic game for Android devices.
For those who never played Knights of the Old Republic in the past, the story takes place 4,000 years before the events revealed in the Star Wars movies. Players find...

T-Mobile’s John Legere takes center stage in a new holiday video from the Un-Carrier. Inspired by A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore, Legere recounts the happy times T-Mobile has experienced during 2014 and some of the benefits they have made available to customers since they launched their Un-Carrier strategy. Legere also takes some digs at T-Mobile’s main competitors, Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.
If you want to check it out, hit the break to view the video. Just note there are a couple, depending on where you work, NSFW words included in the message.
Original author: Jeff Causey...

Earlier this year Google started to share information about their Self-Driving Car Project, an initiative to develop a driverless vehicle. After their initial reveal and some subsequent appearances, Google continued work on the project to bring together all of the different “prototypes” they have in development. Today they unveiled the results of that work, their first complete build of a self-driving vehicle.
As the team explained in a Google+ post, there have been a variety of systems and components to be developed and tested over the past several months. These include traditional automobile systems like steering and braking as well...

Fans of game titles from developer Noodlecake Studios will be pleased to see Humble Bundle’s latest bundle of games as all the apps come from Noodlecake. If you just stick with the basic bundle and name your own price below the average, you get the following titles:
Polymer
Glorkian Warriar: The Trials of Glork
Pumped BMX 2
Super Stickman Golf 2
If you pay more than the average price when you place your order, which was $6.55 at the time of this writing, you also unlock:
Devious Dungeon
Tower Dwellers
Mikey Boots
several more titles to be announced at a...

LG has finally launched the LTE variant of its G Pad 8.0 in South Korea. The slate is listed as available on the manufacturer’s online store for ₩ 330,000 ($300) in both black and white colorways.
For those who need a refresher, the G Pad 8.0 features an 8-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (expandable up to 64GB).
Out of the box, the tablet will run the latest build of Android 4.4.2 KitKat skinned with LG’s Optimus custom user interface. The device is,...

As we close on 2014, and approach 2015, it doesn’t hurt to take a step back and reflect on what was accomplished and what didn’t work out so well during the year. 2014, without a doubt, showed off some great new tech like Android Wear, and virtual reality is finally showing tangible signs of life. Even Apple decided to finally do something new (for itself) and make a reasonable phone size.
2014, as it’s winding down, is also showing some rather dangerous indications of what might be in store for Android OEMs in 2015. Sharp declines in sales, market stagnation...

Everyone will head to Las Vegas for CES 2015 next month. To build hype, ASUS has released a teaser video for what it has coming to the Zen line. The video starts with a quote from physician Lewis Thomas and then scenes of liquid metal moving around. Briefly near the end, a handset appears. It seemingly has a two-button setup on the rear (like the LG G3) and two cameras. ASUS closes the video with the message “see what others can’t see.”
Hit the break for the video.
Original author: Justin Herrick...

The new year is approaching and that means new devices are incoming. Huawei is among the many companies that are expected to introduce new hardware early next year. An image of an alleged Huawei handset appeared on Weibo. It is believed to be the Ascend Mate 7 Plus because of how it resembles the original Ascend Mate 7. The word “Plus” is included because everything is, surprise, larger. The rear speaker is elongated for example. The color and shaping is nearly identical to the Ascend Mate 7.
Via: GizmoChina
Original author: Justin Herrick...

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) is pleased to name 35 exceptional MIT undergraduates as Burchard Scholars for 2015. The award honors sophomores and juniors who demonstrate academic excellence in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, as well as in science and engineering.
Burchard Scholars can come from any school or department of the Institute, and this year’s honorees major and minor in a range of disciplines, including civil engineering, literature, chemistry, political science, electrical engineering, music, physics, mathematics, biology, media studies, and economics.
"What binds the group together," says Margery Resnick, professor of literature and director of the...

Kodak is a renowned name in the image sensor industry owing to its years of experience in the field. The company has now teamed up with the Bullitt Group to bring a new range of Android devices at the upcoming CES 2015 event.
While there are no details on the smartphones that are expected to break cover at CES, it is said that they will feature “great” design and an easy to use user interface.
“Kodak is one of the world’s most recognisable brands. It is trusted by consumers as a marque of quality and innovation,” says Oliver Schulte, CEO Bullitt Mobile. “We’ve...

Samsung announced the arrival of the Tizen powered Z1 smartphone in India earlier today. Naturally, this means that the hardware of the smartphone is out in the open. So what can we expect from the smartphone?
By a quick glance at the hardware specs sheet, it’s clear that the smartphone will only cater to the budget market segment. Samsung has included features like the auto selfie mode to target the selfie bugs. On the hardware front, the smartphone comes with a 4 inch 480 x 800 display, a 1.2 GHz dual core processor of unknown make, 768MB of RAM, 4GB of...

Laboratory employees gather (with Santa!) as more than 100 boxes of gifts donated by Lab employees will be delivered to Colonial Youth and Family Services to help make the holidays a little brighter for local neighbors.
Brookhaven Lab employees certainly believe this is the season for giving.
For the third consecutive year, Lab employees partnered with Colonial Youth and Family Services (CYFS) of Mastic for the Adopt-A-Family program by donating gifts that will help some of our less fortunate neighbors enjoy the holiday season.
Over 100 boxes filled with clothing, toys, electronics, and gift cards — all donated by Lab...

Formate channel FocA from the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, some strains of which cause cholera
The first beamlines dedicated to life sciences at the newly constructed National Synchrotron Light Source II are the three ABBIX beamlines — Advanced Beamlines for Biological Investigations with X-rays. On January 28-29, 2015, a workshop will be held to explore and discuss scientific areas and opportunities on which early operation of the beamlines could capitalize.
Confirmed invited speakers:
Karen Allen, Boston University
Martin Caffrey, Trinity College Dublin
Richard Gillilan, Cornell University
Wayne Hendrickson, Columbia University
Andre Hoelz, California Institute of Technology
Shenping Liu, Pfizer
Lee Makowski,...

Think that sparrow whistling outside your bedroom window is nothing more than pleasant background noise?
A new paper from a researcher at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) suggests that we can apply what we know about songbirds to our understanding of human speech production — and, therefore, come closer to identifying and potentially even reducing the prevalence of disorders like stuttering and Huntington’s Disease.
In a paper published in Science this month, CSAIL postdoc Andreas Pfenning and collaborators at Duke University compared genetic maps of brain tissue from three groups: humans, vocal-learning birds, and non-vocal-learning birds and primates.
Their...

Novel brain measurement software used in major MS study(22/12/14)
Icometrix, a biotechnology company focused on unique projects for diagnosing and treating multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, has designed new software for the measurement of brain lesions and brain volumes and their changes over time. MS, a chronic and neurological condition that affects about 2.5 million people throughout the world, is often first detected in patients at a young age, and the company expects to improve diagnosis and treatment options with the measurements.Icometrix expects its new software to be able to help MS patients who need to keep track of their brain...

A University of California, Davis, alumni couple has loaned a collection of artworks by aboriginal people of the Arctic for an exhibition at the university. “Listening to the Stone: Original Inuit Art,” opening at the C.N. Gorman Museum Jan. 6, is made up of about 50 carvings and a dozen works on paper collected by Jürg and Christel Bieri. Most are being shown publicly for the first time.
“The Bieris have been very generous in sharing this wonderful artwork with the museum, the university and the community,” said Veronica Passalacqua, Gorman Museum curator. “This is also an important exhibition because...

Portuguese Minister for Economy António Pires de Lima traveled to Boston and Cambridge, Mass., last week, to meet with regional entrepreneurs and representatives of companies to foster ties in research and innovation. He was accompanied by Leonardo Mathias, the deputy secretary of state for economy; Pedro Gonçalves, the deputy secretary of state for innovation, investment and competitiveness; and Luis Castro Henriques, administrator of the Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP).
While in Cambridge, the minister and delegates exchanged ideas with Portuguese companies and U.S. investors at the Cambridge Innovation Center. In addition, Pires de Lima visited the MIT Portugal Program headquarters...

The United States is often described as a cultural melting pot. The degree to which that’s true socially can be debated – and, at least as regards to race, it has been debated lots lately.
But another way to look at that question could be to examine the mixing in Americans’ genetic ancestry. And that’s just what researchers at 23andMe, a genomics and biotech company, have done. Their analysis of 160,000 Americans revealed subtle differences in genetic ancestry as it relates to race across the United States.
Americans Up Close
Anyone interested in tracing his or her ancestry can purchase a...

Institute Professor Mildred S. Dresselhaus is the recipient of the IEEE 2015 Medal of Honor — IEEE’s highest honor, given since 1917. Cited for her “leadership and contributions across many fields of science and engineering,” Dresselhaus is also the first woman to earn the prestigious award.
When she worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Solid State Division in 1960, Dresselhaus was given the freedom to select her research focus. She chose carbon, with the goal of discovering how it acts at the most fundamental levels. Dresselhaus joined MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering in 1967 and added an appointment to the Department of...

Stephen L. Buchwald, the Camille Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded the UCD Ulysses Medal, the highest honor that University College Dublin can bestow. The award recognizes his outstanding global contribution to the field of chemistry.
Inaugurated in 2005, the UCD Ulysses Medal is named in honor of University College Dublin’s most famous alumnus, James Joyce, who is widely regarded as the father of the modern novel and the most seminal author of the 20th century. Buchwald is the third MIT faculty member to win the Ulysses Medal, following Professor Noam Chomsky and Institute Professor Phillip Sharp.
"[Buchwald’s] catalytic methods for the formation...